Heel cup



1962 H. L. GOECKNER ETAL 3,050,878

' HEEL CUP Filed May 51, 1960 INVENTOES. i HER/MON L. 60500152 .HPEEY 15. Huz/LL BY Z/y MM ATTOQHEYS United States Patent 3,050,878 HEEL CUP Herman L. Goeckner, 2246 Rochelle, Monrovia, Calif., and Harry E. Huldll, 903 N. Garfield, Alhambra, Calif. Filed May 31, 1960, Ser. No. 32,878 2 Claims. (Cl. 3658.5)

This invention has to do generally with footwear and more particularly with inserts adapted to be placed in the heel of a shoeto assist in retaining the shoe on the foot.

A common disadvantage of mens, womens, and childrens shoes is the fact that the portion of the shoe which receives the heel of the foot is often too large or soon becomes too large for the individual, and consequently the shoes are initially or soon become so loose at the heel that they cannot be worn with comfort.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved means for improving the fit of a shoe by reducing the effective size of the heel-receiving portion so that the shoe will better cling to and fit the wearer, and in this connection it is an object to provide a novel heel cup which can be inserted in the shoe by the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a removable heel cup or insert for a shoe which when inserted in place provides a certain degree of cushioning effect and serves to grip both the interior of the shoe and the persons foot or stocking thereon.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a stocking foot member embodying a heel cup portion having the advantages of the heel cup heretofore outlined.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and the following description. Referring to the drawing, which is for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heel cup member embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the member of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a central sectional elevational view on line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a shoe with a side wall thereof broken away to expose a heel cup embodying the invention in place therein.

More particularly describing the invention, numeral 11 generally designates a heel cup member which is adapted to be inserted in a shoe 12 or the like, as shown in FIG. 4. The heel cup preferably is made of thin, resilient material, such as rubber or synthetic rubber or of a socalled plastics, but preferably of a material which is substantially inert to perspiration. The heel cup includes a bottom wall or sole portion, designated 14, which has a relatively smooth upper surface 15 and an uneven or relatively rough under surface 16. The under surface is shown as having a regular transversely grooved or ribbed surface, but other patterns may be employed. Peferably the leading or forward edge portion of the sole 15 tapers at 17 to a thin edge 18 which is normal to the general longitudinal axis of the member.

The heel cup is also formed with an upright wall, designated generally by numeral 20, which includes a pair of side wall portions 21 and 22 which merge with the sole 15 and with a rear wall portion 23. Preferably the wall portions 21, 22 and 23 are contoured to closely approximate the interior heel-receiving portion 12A of the shoe although the upper edges 25 curve downwardly and merge with the inclined forward edges 26. Also, we preferably form the side wall 21 which is to fit the inner Patented Aug. 28, 1962 ice side wall of the shoe somewhat longer than the other side wall.

We provide an uneven or somewhat roughened surface around approximately the upper half of the wall 20 on both the inside and outside of the Wall and the interior surface has been shown as grooved or ribbed and designated 24 while the outer surface has been designated 25.

With the construction outlined the member 11 is simply placed in the heel portion 12A of the shoe, as shown in FIG. 4, so as to be in a position to receive the heel of the foot. The uneven bottom surface 14 provides a cushioning effect and also serves to grip the sole 12B of the shoe. The uneven surfaces 24 and 25 serve to grip the persons foot or stocking thereon and the inner surface of the shoe respectively, thereby insuring that the shoe stays in place on the foot.

We also contemplate that our heel cup may be embodied in a so-called stocking foot, designated 30, which comprises a knitted stocking foot portion 31 which is sewn or otherwise attached by stitching 32 to the front edges of a heel cup member 11A so as to form a single unit. The article 30 has the advantages of a conventional stocking foot while at the same time having the additional features of the heel cup decsribed above.

Although we have illustrated and described preferred forms of our invention, we contemplate that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention, the scope of which is indicated by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A heel-gripping cup adapted to be inserted without attachment in the heel-receiving portion of a shoe, comprising a body of thin, resilient, flexible, rubber-like material formed to provide a relatively fiat sole portion having a relatively smooth upper surface and relatively rough lower surface and to provide an upright wall extending upwardly from the sole portion at the sides and rear thereof, said upright wall being characterized by being contoured to fit the interior of the heel-receiving portion of the shoe and being characterized by downwardly and forwardly inclined forward edges, said upright wall being further characterized by having relatively rough areas throughout a substantial portion of its inner and outer surfaces adapted to grip the heel of an individual and the interior of a shoe, respectively.

2. The heel gripping cup set forth in claim 1 in which the relatively rough lower surface is formed by small, closely spaced, parallel transverse ribs, and in which the rought areas of said upright wall are formed by small, closely spaced ribs extending parallel to the upper edge of the upright wall from said edge to a region substantially midway of the height of the wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,012,253 Gerhart Dec. 19, 1911 1,023,877 Rogers Apr. 23, 1912 1,086,673 Koppe Feb. 10, 1914 1,585,050 Skoglund May 18, 1926 1,710,077 Scholl Apr. 23, 1929 1,914,463 Silver June 20, 1933 2,003,105 Caplan May 28, 1935 2,090,683 Koppe Aug. 24, 1937 2,155,905 Pratz Apr. 25, 1939 2,339,057 Crofut Jan. 11, 1944 

